Dr. Byron W. Aycock, born in 1915, graduated from Lawton High School in 1933 and was named the outstanding male student in his class by the American Legion. The Lawton native is an Eagle Scout and was active in the same Boy Scout troop as two other CUAA Distinguished Alumni Award recipients, Dr. Herbert S. Orr and Dr. Robert E. Kuntz (both members of the Class of `36).

Aycock took his pre-med courses at Cameron, receiving his associates degree in 1935. While at Cameron he was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the male quartet and chorus, and sang a baritone solo at the 1935 Baccalaureate Service. He received his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Oklahoma and completed a residency in ophthalmology and otolaryngology at Wesley Hospital in Oklahoma City.

After serving as a naval medical officer on the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Adak and at the Parris Island Marine Corps base during World War II, he returned to Lawton to establish a private eye, ear, nose and throat practice.

He was certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology in 1947, becoming Lawton's first board-certified physician in any specialty. He also became a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology.

Aycock also served as an assistant professor of otolaryngology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, a consultant for the 4th Army in Otolaryngology at Fort Sill's Station Hospital and conducted weekly ear, nose and throat clinics at the Fort Sill Indian Hospital.

He has been a member of the American Medical Association, the Oklahoma State Medical Association and is past-president of the Comanche County Medical Society. He served as chairman of the medical staff at Comanche County Memorial Hospital and on the medical staff at Southwestern Hospital.

Aycock's scientific papers have appeared in The Oklahoma State Medical Journal and Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Digest.

Aycock retired after a 42-year career in medicine, but remains active in the community. He has served on the boards of the Lawton Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Kiwanis, Museum of the Great Plains, Hospice, Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, Southwest Oklahoma Opera Guild and as chairman of the administrative board of the First United Methodist Church where he was a member of the choir.

Since retirement, he and his wife, Doris, have volunteered to assist the Mobile Meals program. He is a member of Cameron's President's Partners and donated funds to furnish a biology lab in the new Sciences Complex.

His wife, their four children, two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren have also attended Cameron.